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The changing role of women in the first world war
The changing role of women in the first world war
Gender Role In The Military
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Military has been predominant in our society: a statistic showed that world military spending in 2012 went over 1.7 trillion dollars. Its present everywhere: in the news, on TV, in videogames and in movie. A movie example could be Brothers, where we can relate situations to certain themes. Within this analysis, I will relate the movie to three major themes: men’s relationship to war, war and patriarchy and women’s relationship to war.
Resume:
In overall, the movie is about a marine Captain (Sam) who leaves on his mission to Afghanistan, leaving his wife (Grace) and his two daughters behind. He’s also leaving his brother (Tommy), a criminal who just got out of jail for robbing a bank. While Sam being on mission and being captured as prisoners (presumed dead), Tommy looks after Grace and his two nieces, creating a strong bond between them, and helping the family go through its grief. When Sam comes home, he’s totally changed: he becomes a cold man suffering of PTSD and paranoia, and suspects his wife and his brother have had sex together. In the end, he attempts suicide, after having a rage breakout because of his daughter (she said that Grace and Tommy had slept together), and is sent off to a psychiatric clinic. He also tells his wife about what really happened while he was in his mission, how he killed Private Joe.
Men’s relationship to war
The film somehow suggests that the war experience confirms a young man’s manhood. We can see how Sam, successful captain in the US marines, is praised by his father in comparison with Tommy, who has spent most of his life getting into trouble. Hank, Tommy and Sam’s father, at one point states that Tommy should grow up, be a hero, just like his brother. In a way, war is reflected as a competit...
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...ould. Women are practically put as victims, but also supporters of war. As we see, the wife of Private Joe, Cassie Willis, grieves her husband’s death, but still honors him, saying that he died with dignity for a good cause. As said before, Grace goes to a community center where a lot of wives and kids of the military men hang out, which describes the role that Grace has in the military. Also, after her loss, Cassie goes to talk to Grace to relieve her pain and to talk about the nightmare she had which included Sam. Although Grace wished that Sam didn’t go to his mission, she still accepted it, which demonstrates how she encourages against her will her man to do his masculine duty. She understands that she may lose him, but still lets him go, because it is his duty. On the battlefield, no women are present: the military unit where Sam was did not contain any woman.
When Sam goes out late to leave the camp he was at during the war, he goes home to talk to his family and then he hears sounds outside and he finds patriot soldiers trying to steal his family's cattle and Sam tries to stop them. later when he returns to his camp he is accused for leaving the camp and for stealing property, and general Putnam decides to execute him and he dies. When Tim finds out he is very devastated.
But life is not a fairytale. Standing there lonely, having no job is our Sammy. This is when Sam realizes his path, the true way to become mature. The moment when “Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient:” Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your mom and dad” (Updike) hold him back a little bit, we can feel the regret in his heart. But he cannot go back anymore, decision has been made. He gives up his last chance; from now on, he’s on his own. Sammy finally understands that it is responsible behavior but not playing “adult-like” game that will make him a true
In conclusion, while books, photos, movies and other historical documentation can portray information or a message about wartime events, they will never be able to produce the feelings of those that were personally involved in wars have experienced. Yet, it is incorrect to criticize these writers. The information they reveal is still very important historical information. Even if a reader or viewer of this media cannot feel exactly the same emotions as those involved, they still often experience an emotional connection to the events being depicted. This is important, not only for the historical knowledge gained about wars, but also to understand the nature and futility of their occurrence.
to deteriorate the human spirit. Starting out leaving you're home and family and ready to fight for you country, to ending up tired and scarred both physically and mentally beyond description. At the beginning of the novel nationalist feelings are present through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war it is apparent how pointless war really is.
When the war was over, the survivors went home and the world tried to return to normalcy. Unfortunately, settling down in peacetime proved more difficult than expected. During the war, the boys had fought against both the enemy and death in far away lands; the girls had bought into the patriotic fervor and aggressively entered the workforce. During the war, both the boys and the girls of this generation had broken out of society's structure; they found it very difficult to return.
Since the beginning of history, human society has centered around war. People throughout the ages have attempted to understand why wars occur, and the effect of war on the people who fight in them. Authors have utilized the power of language to attempt to grasp the struggle and the horror of war, and make it accessible to the public. For example, Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and Bierce’s “Coup de Grace” both provide a glimpse into different aspects of war. Although they both pertain to the idea of war, “In Another Country” focuses on the psychological trauma of war while “Coup de Grace” showcases the horror of war. This is visible in the theme, setting, and characters of both stories.
Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) is a film that examines the Guadalcanal Battle of World War II, looking past the physical results of the violence, in order to uncover the deeper truths and ramifications of war. The film conveys themes and ideologies that are somewhat uncommon to war films, especially WW II films. In this dark, surreal, journey, Malick takes us inside the minds of soldiers experiencing this battle to capture a remote pacific island from the Japanese. We do not hear or see gruff, hardened soldiers, anxious to die for their country. In fact, there are no heroes in The Thin Red Line. There are only regular men, scared of fighting and scared of dying, who have been thrown into a situation that will forever change their lives. The fighting is not suspenseful or glorious just brutal. Using an ideological approach to the study of film, this paper will examine The Thin Red Line’s messages about the truths of war, and how it challenges our society’s stereotypical view of war as a valiant undertaking where brave men fighting for good battle the evil of the enemy. Consequently, the ideologies that are uncovered will then be used to look at The Thin Red Line as a war film, and how it fits and does not fit into the genre.
These women exemplified “patriotic passion”, unwavering in their commitment to win America’s independence and create “one nation under God.” History tends to applaud the heroics of men in war, but there are few examples that cite the courage women displayed. We need to be vigilant when we remember that women deliberately made the choice to fear for their personal safety and risk their lives to share the burden of “freedom and justice for all”. These incredible women faced immense and unprecedented adversities, resulting in steadfast fortitude and unwavering determination. In my opinion, these are the “unsung heroes” of war and the inspiration for this research paper.
War has been a mainstay of human civilization since its inception thousands of years ago, and throughout this long and colorful history, warriors have almost exclusively been male. By repeatedly taking on the fundamentally aggressive and violent role of soldier, Man has slowly come to define Himself through these violent experiences. Although modern American society regulates the experiences associated with engaging in warfare to a select group of individuals, leaving the majority of the American public emotionally and personally distant from war, mainstream American masculinity still draws heavily upon the characteristically male experience of going to war. In modern American society, masculinity is still defined and expressed through analogy with the behavior and experiences of men at war; however, such a simplistic masculinity cannot account for the depth of human experience embraced by a modern man.
Society has placed strict gender norms on both males and females and these norms are suppose to be rigid and fixed. Yet, when women become were fighting for the right to be a part of the military institution, they were challenging the gender norms. Throughout the readings in our class, one main and recurring drawback of why women have been excluded from combat roles is because these women were challenging the social gender norms. According to Segal, it is difficult to include women into the military because of social construction of gender; women have to be perceived as changing to fit the military. Dowler claims as well that women in combat roles are “out of place” from the acceptable gender norms. She claims that even today, combat roles are only defined as such if women aren’t in that specific role. Dombrowski as well says that it is fascinating how the male-dominated institution of the military expresses their fear of women inte...
The male-dominated institution that is the U.S. military, through daily practice, has shown its implementing of hegemonic masculinity among ranks. As this institution relies on rigid masculine qualities, it feeds from the history of hyper-masculinity. Warfare and hegemonic masculinity go hand in hand, “for ages throughout countless societies the final initiation rite from boyhood to manhood has been an inclusion in the practice of war” (Morgan 125). Through this idea, “boys who aspire to manhood, and men seeking to express theirs, follow masculine scripts generated in and for particular milieus, but they must also negotiate their course in relation to the hegemonic forms of contemporary masculinity and femininity” (Nye 1940). This ideal of a strong and aggressive leader is emphasized through American war politics as well “where our major response to the indirect tactics of guerrilla warfare has been to rely upon more and bigger ‘strikes’ and ‘assaults’, despite all the evidence of their long-run ineffectiveness” (Mansfield 351). Essentially this idea that to prove oneself through the strength and refusal to retreat, regardless of the effectiveness of the strategy “seems to reflect a psychological reality” within the military: “to lose will be to unman us all” (Mansfield
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
In the beginning of the short story, the young boy is already imprinted with the ideas of war from his father. His father was a former soldier who “had fought against naked savages and followed the flag of his country..” (Bierce 41). The image of war that is imprinted on the young boy from his father is that of nobility and righteous that comes from war.
...nd bloodshed. Women gave a reason to go to war, a reason to come back from the war, and oddly, a reason to want to return to the war. The men were in a fraternity of life, and with no women around for so long they began to rely on themselves, and no longer had the needs that were provided them by women. They wanted to play in the jungle with their friends, only this time with no guns. They missed the life that they spent together eating rations and swapping stories. When they went home they were veterans, like the old men of the World Wars. If they stayed, they were still heroes, warriors, and victims. They still loved deeply the women at home, because they had no reason to fight or bicker, or possibly realize that the women they assumed would be waiting for them had changed in that time. The men were torn between love of women, and the love of brotherhood.
...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.